TOO MANY MOOSE!

Little redheaded, freckled white Martha wants a pet. She consults several books and with great enthusiasm decides to get a moose. The match between Martha and moose is so felicitous that she goes online and orders “one more… // and one more and one more / until she had four!” But even four are not enough, and Martha keeps adding to her menagerie. The moose all happily participate in many activities, many of which start with the letter M: mixing up mud pies, solving math equations, making muffins, and dancing to a mambo beat. Alas, one day the many moose “run amok!” and make messes and mistakes. So back they go, via mail, except for the first moose. Bakos has written a humorous tale filled with rhythm and M-wordplay. Is it an object lesson in the chimerical nature of wish fulfillment or the dangers of online ordering? Maybe, but more than anything, this is great fun to read aloud and an entertaining ode to human-animal friendship. Chambers’ digital illustrations on a white background present moose that are animated, antic, and delightfully personable.

A pet is a good companion—in the singular not the plural. (Picture book. 4-7)

March and April have been filled with fun events for The Wrong Side of the Bed, starting with the Book Birthday on March 8th and followed by StoryTime and a Book Launch Party at Rakestraw Books in Danville, California.

Since then, I've had a blast taking my book and its menagerie of mischief making animals to Green Valley Elementary School and Barnes and Noble in Dublin, California.

So excited to share the news that Mark A. Chambers is on board to illustrate Mail Order Moose! Published by Sourcebooks, the book is due out in the summer of 2016 and I am very excited to be working with this marvelous artist!

So much fun reading to a darling group of kindergartners at Green Valley Elementary School on World Read Aloud Day 2015. Took along my son Josef (now in 6th grade) who once had the same teacher. I read one of my all time favorites, How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together - writtenby Beatrice Schenk De Regniers and illustrated by Bernice Myers. That book is 50 years old and though a bit worn from so many readings, is still as excellent as ever!